Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella was published in 2006 by Viking. It was written and illustrated by Pamela Allen.
Grandpa and Thomas go to the beach for a day. They play and by the end a storm comes. The end.
I’ve read one more book by Pamela Allen and her stuff is quite quirky. In this book the quirkiness comes towards the end when the boy and grandpa get into a car-sandcastle during the storm. Wouldn’t most normal people go back to their “real” car?
The scenes of Grandpa and Thomas are pleasant to look at. The Grandpa is a chubby guy (something nice to see in a picture book) and enjoys various activities with Thomas and vice versa.
I found one picture a little strange. Thomas is in the water and the grandfather is grabbing his neck/pushing up his cheeks. What’s Grandpa doing? Torturing Thomas.
Allen does a good job of drawing “action” in this book. Both characters are in various positions on each page. This would’ve been difficult to draw without models.
One final point to make is that this author really understands the idea of having her own unique voice. There’s no rhyme in this story but there are some key phrases repeated over and over. I believe this kind of writing is great for young children...
